Labranda Alyssa Suite Hotel

We stayed here for 10 nights 11th - 21st August and had two rooms - my mum, uncle, me husband and our 2 children (12 and 9). We stayed half board. First impression wasn't the best - reception lacked atmosphere and the receptionist was a bit frosty (she did warm up after a while though, might be the language barrier). Positives: Big rooms, cleaned regularly and we loved the space outside with the loungers. Also liked that these little apartments are set away from the pool etc. It felt peaceful. Gorgeous backdrop, we loved the grounds & generally the 10 days felt relaxing (except for a bunch of kids shouting "Marco Polo" for hours on end in the pool - even my kids who didnt play it said "will they ever stop shouting that?!" glad they were having fun, but we did come away with headaches any day we were at the pool! :D ) No sunbed wars! We are usually up early and at the pool anyway (towels down at around 8.30 but we dont leave them, its usually us for the morning!) but there was no need if you arent an early riser. Although some people reserved beds, there were always plenty left. We didnt even struggle with the 6 of us seated together. Lovely staff - from the restaurant to the pool bar, everyone was friendly and happy to help. Amazing Pina Coladas and the food was pretty good for this type of hotel - there were a few nights where we started to get sick of it so we did go out to eat one night to break it up and have some proper tapas! Negatives The biggest one has to be the beds. They really, really need to replace their sofa beds. All four of us switched between the twins (which were also quite hard to sleep on but ok) to the sofa beds to help each other have a good nights sleep and we all had poor nights sleep when we were on them. The bar digs into your back and there is no support at all. Lack of storage. There is a wardrobe and some drawers but for 4 of us for 10 nights, it was a struggle to find space! Also lack of shelves/units in the bathroom so the sink was constantly cluttered. Room /cleaning: Although the rooms were made up as requested and always left clean, we found that we were losing towels each day! I think its easy to assume there is only 3 per room (we booked 2 rooms thinking one of the kids would go in with my mum and uncle but they wanted to both stay with us) but most days we came back to the room and only had 2 towels. One day, they only left us 1! Easily fixed by going to reception, but not ideal. We also found that our glasses were never replaced. In the end we gave up and got a bunch of paper ones from the bar! Inconsistent "entertainment" - some days there was music around the pool, some days there wasn't. 2 out of the 10 days there was aqua dance/aerobics (one of these seemed to be making it up as she went along!) Evening entertainment was...ok. We did the quiz, bingo and karaoke. We did see some of the singers. The karaoke was the best but the organiser let all the kids queue up for 20 mins and t

rooms; very nice, spacious, sunbeds, great aircon, sofa bed very uncomfortable, bathroom door is a struggle to shut. staff; very very good, everyone always had a smile, i emailed and asked for a room close to the pool we couldnt of got a better position (221), simone was especially nice. pools; always managed to get a sunbed, it says no reserving them but people still did but it also says no inflatables but there was loads of them, yes the water is cold but ok once in. wifi; really poor, only worked in reception which is no good as all kids have i pads etc that they like to use. food; not really 4* just adequate in my opinion, typical AI. drinks; good selection of soft and alcoholic drinks. entertainment; very poor daytime activities for both kids and adults, mini disco starts at 7.30 so you either have to rush for an early evening meal or go after and miss out on some of the other entertainment but to be fair the singers every night are not good at all. overall we enjoyed our stay but probably wouldnt return. please dont be put off by my review, it is a nice place just the food and entertainment were not to our liking.